On my second trip to Angelus Rosedale, I searched a bit further afield and discovered some lonely treasures scattered about the grounds. The first two such treasures, a pre-1900 female Angel sculpture and a pre-1890 male Angel sculpture with a star gracing the crown encircling its brow, stood guard over a hillside that looked down upon yet more graves on the premises.

I decided to render the pictures in black and white, which brings the pictures into strong relief, making them even more striking than had they been shown in their original daylight aspect. It takes away distractions and helps the viewer to see the deeper details of the work. The female Angel’s wings, for example, show incredible detail work. The spines of the feathers themselves are even visible, along with the artist’s carefully rendered flaws in the edges of those feathers. It seemed right to adopt her as the masthead, so to speak, of Illiterati Photography.

It’s funny when you look into the face of the female Angel, and if you allow yourself to see it, you’ll recognize the features of actress Drew Barrymore, who wouldn’t even be born until decades hence.

Makes you wonder.

The male Angel, however, is a stronger figure. He stands guard with a strong yet gentle expression. He wears a star-capped crown, lighting the way of the souls that people the grounds. You can see that he’ll keep them all safe and sound.

The final figure is of an angelic watcher who kneels atop the marker over one of the graves. Unlike the previously mentioned Angels, it’s more difficult to see her wings, which seem to peek out from over her shoulders. She seems to see inside you, wanting to know what your business is at the cemetery. I found myself greeting her respectfully and even asking if it was okay to take her picture.

Silly, I know, but you had to have been there. If and when the time comes that you do see her, you may find yourself doing the very same thing.

Standing like soldiers behind their Commanding Officer, a field of grave markers dot the landscape in careful rows behind the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial at Angelus Rosedale. The Memorial was dedicated on May 30th, 1957, which I would assume was Memorial Day. It’s only been in recent years that Memorial Day has been turned from a day of reflection and remembrance into a day of beer, beaches and barbecues.

The great grey slab stands perpetual sentinel duty over the earthly remains of those who bravely served their Country, honoring their selfless service to a grateful Nation. These grave markers ensure that we will never truly forget about those who have come and served before, sacrificing what might have been easy lives for the sacred duty of defending the United States of America.

This crypt, which appears to house heiress Clara Baldwin Stocker, has seen vandalism on a terrible scale. Not only is the door’s central panel missing, but there are bullet holes in the glass at the rear of the crypt. Ms Stocker even has a street named for her in Los Angeles, so why is this crypt being permitted such accelerated decay? It just doesn’t seem right.

I rendered the photo in black and white as an experiment, and am quite happy with the results, though not at all happy with the condition of the crypt.

In wandering through Angelus Rosedale, I found this once-proud marker belonging to the Crosser family. It appears that it was cemented onto its base, from the thin layer I saw that remained.

The Angelus Rosedale cemetery has beautiful grave markers, but the grounds aren’t well kept, with dead and dying grass (as opposed to Hollywood Forever’s lushly green grounds) and in many cases, moss-covered statuary. It’s an odd juxtaposition of circumstances.

A sign at the entrance says that all flowers and other temporary markers are removed every Thursday, and indeed, I saw a pair of women planting bright yellow flowers on the hillside, watering them from a makeshift pitcher. The cleanup crew must have just passed before they began their replanting. There’s a certain sadness to that kind of dedication.

In looking at the Crosser marker, I find myself wondering if the family is still in the Los Angeles area, or if they remain and have either forgotten or simply don’t care about the condition of their loved ones’ monument to their existence on this Earth.

I’ll be checking in on the Crossers in the next few weeks to see if there have been any developments. And if there have been, I’ll take pictures and pass them along here.

As we walked the Angelus Rosedale grounds, we discovered this disturbingly lifelike figure, collapsed with grief over the top of the marker. It drew us in to look much more closely. I’ve included two aspects of the figure to show how detailed it truly is.

It should be noted that the Albert F Kercheval listed on this headstone was a noted poet of his time, and had indeed been published.

The second photo to the right shows the side view of the marker and its mysterious mourner. The detail work is truly amazing. If you look, you can see how the sculptor kept track of where the human body would lie beneath the voluminous robe.

I’m in absolute awe of this beautiful and downright unique marker. I wish I could discover who the sculptor was, so I could find other examples of his or her work. The “most recent” burial on that plot was in 1905, so the sculptor is long gone, but this work means that s/he will not be soon forgotten.

We found this rather curious grave marker at the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery. If you look closely, you will see that each exposed side names a different Summers. There are a few more markers at Angelus Rosedale that feature this curious style of identification.

Angelus Rosedale was the first cemetery in Los Angeles to accept African-Americans when Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel was put to rest there. It has some absolutely amazing statuary and grave markers. The marker included here was more than a little eye-catching.

The deep reddish brown stone was stained with age. I’m seriously considering coming by at another time with some clean soft rags and some water to give it a good cleaning. It appears it’s been ignored for quite some time now.